Friends And Lovers
by sakikaiba
Summary: Story of how seto and katsuya used to be freinds...now looking at the consequences of falling out...
1. Memories of Times Past

Just another idea I had…..

_**Friends and Lovers Chapter 1: Memories of times past………**_

A four year old blond Katsuya Jounouchi ran into the colourful kindergarten classroom, sobbing, his mop of unruly hair flying everywhere as he tried to wipe away the salty tears trickling down his pale cheeks. He ran straight into the arms of his waiting friend who pulled Jou close so his blond hair tickled his face gently. There Jou remained, huddled close into his friend's warmth, unable to say anything but: "Seto…" The pair however were soon interrupted by their angry kindergarten teacher; "Katsuya Jounouchi you should be ashamed of yourself and your behaviour, get yourself off Seto right this instance!" her green eyes flashed dangerously at the pair. Slowly Jou pulled himself away from Seto's grasp and tried to explain himself; "Sorry sensei…I…" he trailed off as he sobbed once again, then when he had it under control due to Seto rubbing his back to comfort him, he continued; "Sensei…I.." Jou sniffed, still clutching Seto's t shirt for comfort. "Jounouchi I don't wish to hear your excuses, now get yourself cleaned up, and make it quick!" She yelled, her blonde hair flying around in disarray, as if protesting against the boy's actions also. Slowly Jou nodded to his sensei and turned to face Seto with a thankful and pleading look in his hazel eyes. Seto nodded as his piercing blue gaze showed compassion and understanding, together they walked out the classroom and into the toilets just down the hall.

Once in the toilets Jou turned around and looked sadly at Seto at which the brown – haired boy sighed and pulled his friend in his arms once again into a comforting hug, rocking the blond boy gently. Gradually Seto pulled back and scanned Jou's caramel eyes and asked; "What happened Katsuya!" still holding the blond's shoulders passionately. Jou looked away from Seto's deep gaze and looked instead to the ground, very briefly before returning the brunet's stare; "Seto…..I…My…" Jou stuttered before throwing his head back into Seto's warm chest and began crying again, bawling like a baby. Seto just held the smaller boy close, rubbing his back soothingly. After a few minutes Jou realised what he was doing and sharply pulled away from the brunet and turned the tap on, trying to wipe away the redness from his cheeks and eyes. "I'm sorry Seto……My mum….She left me…" Jou sobbed again, this time over the sink. Seto couldn't bear to see the smaller blond in this state so again he pulled him close, rocking gently and he whispered in the blond's exposed ear: " Well even if everyone one else abandons you and leaves you for dead, I'll always be here by your side…your best friend forever……"

* * *

Jou woke up to see bright light shining through the blind less window in his apartment, directly onto his head. Jou swiftly jumped off his mattress at the sunlight and dragged his lean, 17 year old figure to the bathroom for a long, cold shower. Jou shook his head; "Why can't I get Kaiba outta my head! We fell out years ago…I mean it's not like I actually want him as a friend anymore, I've got Yugi and the gang…." He thought sadly as he remembered how everyone in their group had someone, a partner….; Yami had Yugi, Ryou had Bakura, Honda had Otogi and Anzu had Mai, and he had…no one…. Jou sighed and continued on his way to school, choosing to look at the pavement to keep his mind off a certain good looking blue eyed, brown haired ex- best friend who he now argued with instead of giving hugs to; like they did, until their lives changed……

* * *

The lunch bell rang through the halls and Jou who'd been looking intently at the clock jumped straight out of his chair and bumped into someone….Jou looked up and met Kaiba's hardened glare briefly ; "Watch where you're going puppy…" Jou just looked sorrowfully at the ground and pushed past muttering; "Sorry", hoping that Kaiba wouldn't notice. Finally Jou sat down next to Yugi at their lunch table so he didn't have to see him and Yami fondling one another unless he looked sharply down and to the right. When everyone arrived and were happily eating and talking with one another Jou started staring eerily at the empty chair across from him, thinking about Kaiba, wondering what it would have been like to be friends with him now…. That was when Anzu interrupted him from his little daydream; "Yoo-hoo! Jou, anybody in there!" Jou was just about to answer when she continued; "Katsuya..!" at this Jou snapped his head round, if she wanted his attention she certainly got it; "Don't call me that!" he yelled at the girl and thought to himself; 'only one person I know is allowed to call me that and….he hasn't called me that in years….' This thought brought tears to the blond's eyes but he quickly covered it up by snapping at the girl again; "What do you want!" Jou smirked at her now shocked expression; "I err…..wanted to know if you wanted to play truth or dare with us….?" She replied nervously. "Nah thanks, I'm good" Jou replied, he was just about to go back to staring at the chair when another voice interrupted; "What chicken mutt?" Jou growled at Seto's presence, however this just seemed to encourage the brunet; "The puppy recognises his master" Seto purred in a soft, silky and almost seductive manner. "Only if you do!" Jou replied, now defiant after Kaiba's insult, glaring now at the brunet. However at Jou's glare Seto frowned on the inside; 'His eyes…those eyes…he looks so lost…I…Katsuya…' Seto then had images of him rushing over to Jou's side and holding him close whilst the blond sobbed into his chest; 'Just like he used to…' Seto closed his eyes briefly to hide the pain and sorrow buried deep inside his soul. "So Seto, want to play with us….?" Anzu asked the brunet, making possibly her second biggest mistake that day. Seto vaguely recalled mentally telling himself to calm down before yelling at the girl; "Don't you dare address me as such, stupid girl!" he yelled at Anzu who was once again incredibly shocked at Kaiba's reaction. "Okay…there's something wrong here…" she mumbled Ryou smiled despite; "So Kaiba would you care to partake in a game of truth or dare with us?" he tried to make peace in his always present British accent. "I guess it might prove interesting…" Kaiba spoke quietly as he sat back down in his chair, having jumped up during his outburst. He then turned to meet Jou's hazel eyed gaze; "Are you going to play…Jou?" Kaiba inwardly screamed, he so wanted to call him Katsuya again, it felt so good, he was his little Katsuya….with his gorgeous blond locks and crystal clear hazel eyes that used to sparkle at him…Again Kaiba had to look down briefly to purge his mind of such thoughts. Jou saw Kaiba turn away and thought the worst; 'He won't even look at me straight, how on earth am I supposed to win him back?' Jou thought sadly. Jou felt like crying at that moment but instead he plastered a huge smile to his face to cover up his sadness and worry and replied; "Sure, I'd never back down from a challenge, but I guess you'd know that better than anyone wouldn't you?" Jou said, his voice now dripping with sarcasm and regret, now staring at the brunet now sitting opposite him. Bakura rubbed his hand together manically; "so…who wants to go first….." He started then his gaze rested on Jou who swiftly thumped his head on the table…………… 


	2. Truth or Dare

_**Friends and Lovers Chapter 2: Truth or Dare….**_

Jou thumped his head on the table, he inwardly thought; 'Why me? Why did Bakura have to choose him? What had he done to deserve this terrible fate? But then again he was probably trying to get him back for that time with the custard cream pie…mmmmm' Jounouchi smiled as he un-plastered his head from the table. Everyone else sighed in relief as Jou was chosen to play first. Bakura smiled maniacally at Jou, obviously he already had serious plans for the blond; "So Jounouchi, truth or dare?" the hazel-eyed teen paused for a second before choosing: "Truth B'kura" he decided in his slight American intonation. Bakura looked very much put out by this, obviously the tomb thief had planned an outrageous dare for the blond to undertake, not a pathetic truth.

"Okay then, in that case; why is it that no-one is privileged enough to call you by your first name?" Jou frowned profusely at this question, answering carefully; "I can't explain exactly…" The blond glanced briefly across the plastic cafeteria table at the blue-eyed CEO sitting across from him before continuing; "But if ya really wanna know I used to be called that by someone I kinda cared about.." the blond trailed of, glancing at the floor for a second whilst the whole group stared, transfixed at the for once at the normally tough blond.

"Alright, Yug', truth or dare?" Jou said happily, breaking all gazes held upon the blond bar one cerulean-eyed teenager across from him. As Jounouchi continued the game, daring the small Yugi to talk dirty to his Yami next to him, a certain Seto Kaiba was still staring at the blond transfixidly, for possibly the first time in his life Kaiba was confused, and by the blond of all people, he thought such a time he had left behind, many, many year previous.

The small Seto huddled in the corner of the children's home with a small Mokuba clinging to his ragged jumper, waiting for their 'new dad' to take them to a 'better home'. Seto for once was scared, with only himself to protect his younger brother, taking him into the big wide world outside of their children's home, the only place the two had ever called home. Seto was truly terrified at the prospect of leaving their small sanctuary for a new dwelling which had never been introduced before to them along with their 'father'. Within minutes both Seto and Mokuba were standing, Seto appearing both strong and confident for the two as their father explained that they would be taken out of the home and school the following day in order to introduce the boys to their new home and surroundings..

A five year old Jou with scruffy blond hair was sitting in the kindergarten classroom fashioning a small blue eyes white dragon out of blue and white plasticine, the young blond had always had a flair for art in his own way. Seto walked slowly into the room, looking especially dishevelled and withdrawn, sitting down watching the young blond sculpt. Jou finished abruptly and revealed a huge grin to Seto and threw his arms round him in a welcoming hug as their sensei was not looking in their direction. Jou then pulled away to look into Seto's striking blue eyes, and there he was told that something was drastically wrong, something that would change both their lives for ever. Seto discreetly motioned towards the reading area in the corner; this was a quiet area where the two talked privately, away from all the other children as none of the others could read the books stocked in the kindergarten area. The area was walled off by a Japanese screen.

This was where the cold-hearted Seto cried for the first time in his entire life; on Katsuya Jounouchi's shoulder. Seto sobbed constantly for the next five minutes with Jou gently rocking him and rubbing his back soothingly, slowly dissipating the older boys crying enough to allow the brunet to talk; "Kat…I….." Seto managed to cry out between stifled sobs. Jou continued to rub soothing circles into Seto's back. "Kat…I'm…I…Kat…I have to leave…I have been chosen……" Jou instantly understood the meaning of the older boys' words and quietly sobbed also and there the two boys remained sobbing in each others' arms until break time when they were shooed outside, red faced and bleary eyed. By the end of the day both boys sullenly walked to the school gates so that they might be picked up by parents. Seto spied his father, Gozoboru Kaiba in the small crowd of parents and he shivered, they was something inside Seto that took an almost instant dislike to the man he was to call father. Jou sensed his friends unease and pulled him close for a heart felt hug, desperately wishing that this was not how it would end. Jou felt although his whole world were being ripped apart, he felt a great amount of pity not on the for Seto but himself also, he could make friends easily although he choose them more carefully, from the instance Jou had laid eyes on Seto at the adoption home at the age of eighteen months he had known. They were destined to be great friends forever and when Jou was adopted his mother made sure that Jou visited the children's' home until Seto was old enough to go out on day trips with Jou and his baby sister. Set and Jou eventually pulled themselves apart before they incurred the wrath of any of the other parents or their teacher for hugging another male in public, still both boys paid for that mistake later.

Until four years previous the two boys hadn't been reunited and they hadn't exactly taken off where they left off all those years ago. Beneath, the two boys were still extremely sensitive although this was now masked by their own experiences and tortures they had to endure. Kaiba was trained by his father to mask all emotions and be cold hearted and calculating and so that's what everyone saw, with the very occasional expression revealed when he spent time with Yugi and the gang. Jou's mask was that of false happiness, he'd had his mother leave him, taking his sister with him at the age of four leaving him with his adoptive father who was an abusive alcoholic and beat Jou up when in a drunken stupor. Because of this abuse Jou dove deep into a life of crime, joining a street gang, binging and taking drugs. It was here he met Hiroto and they were partners on the street, they looked after one another and then Yugi showed them 'the light' after they prevented the smaller boy getting beaten up three years ago. Seto thought about this, how he wanted to be good friends with Jou again, they didn't get along at all anymore but he suspected that this was more due to their now clashing attitudes rather than an actual dislike for one another, however Kaiba would never admit this.

"Kaiba! Woohoo! Anybody in there?" Anzu waved her hand in front of his face which snapped Seto out of his Jou induced trance; "Where were we?" Kaiba asked. All off them excluding Jou stared at Kaiba in disbelief, since when had he ever let a conversation slip him by? Kaiba inwardly cursed, now they'd know there was something wrong with him; "I apologise, my mind was on an important business matter, so where were we?" All of the gang then relaxed, assuring themselves that Kaiba was in fact still Kaiba, all business, no play. "Anzu just asked you S…Kaiba, it's your turn" Jou faltered, catching himself before he called Kaiba his given name. Seto smirked at the irony, Jou, he wished so much that the blond was his friend and here he was, ignoring him and all those he almost called friends. "Truth" the brunet proclaimed making Anzu looked slightly disappointed. Jou and a couple of others smirked at Anzu, they all liked to put a damper on her spirits once in a while to keep her under control and Kaiba had just taken care of their job for the next week or so. The school bell then rung out and they all groaned and stood up ready to go to their final class of the day. Just as everyone was collecting their belongings and starting to walk away Anzu called them all back; "Hey guys, you want to get together later to continue this?" everyone mumbled replies of "yeahs" and "oks" which unfortunately made Anzu positively beam. "Ok guys, we can meet at outside the game shop at Yugi's at around half five ok?" Then she positively hopped away to class, leaving the rest of them frozen to the spot, staring after her before realising they were now late for class and started running in opposite directions.

Kaiba was frustrated, 'honestly did this women think that all the people in the ADVANCED art class were complete idiots, I mean common they _had_ passed an exam to get into this class!' the brunet swept his gaze across the rest of his class and rested it on Jounouchi, he was interested but not surprised to see the puppy in one of his advanced classes this year, the blond had pulled up his grades dramatically last year after getting off coke and it just goes to show what he could do if he put his mind to it. When they were younger the two of them were way further ahead achedemically and socially in Jou's case than anyone at their school including the two years above them. Kaiba had already seen Jou in two of his classes today; Maths and English and now Art, all advanced classes. Of course Jou had always been good at art, even in his drug induced days he'd create real works of art about how he felt when he was high or drunk. But recently his work had become more pure again, in the same way that his art was when he was younger, with no outside influences, his works in watercolour and fine pastels represented to Kaiba what he thought a child's life should be like. Jou's canvases depicted scenes of brothers and sisters playing in the sand and parents happily strolling through a park hand in hand, friends allowed to walk hand in hand with one another and friends playing happily together, left to their own devices. Kaiba wished this was how it could have been for them, instead his life was ripped apart by Gozoboru and all remnants from his previous life were taken away and before he could see what was happening his father was training him to be the head of his huge franchise. He was beaten in to shape, quite literally and there was only one thing that Kaiba was thankful for; Mokuba, Gozoboru had never laid a hand on his brother, spoilt him silly with his huge income and treated him whilst Kaiba was controlled and sculpted into something beyond his comprehension.

Jou was tired, not physically but mentally, he had finally conquered his fear, he'd confronted his old gang last night, they'd had unfinished business but when he'd gone to their old spot they weren't to be found, he'd looked all round his old neighbourhood, he'd even walked past his dad's flat. He'd found one guy he used to know; Akira Toriyama also an ex gang member, though he'd left long before Jou, before even Hiroto had joined. Toriyama was leaning against a broken lamp post on a street corner just outside the bad part of town; "Hey Jou man, what's up? You still in with Ushio and the gang?" The slightly bearded man pulled out a cigarette and placed it between his dry cracked lips, then lit it slowly with a green lighter that matched the colour of his eyes. He waved one in Jou's direction who took it and grabbed a lighter from his pocket, placing his now lit cig in his mouth and took a long deep drag; "No man, I got out ages ago, I'm even clean now man, what you up to, you still in the smuggling trade?" The blond sat down on the corner, leaning up against the wall of the corner warehouse smoking silently, waiting for Akira to reply; "No I'm clean now too, well done man, I know it's not easy!" He moved towards Jou and gave him a firm hand shake before asking the blond why he was in the area if he was clean; "I wad lookin' ta find the gang, I kinda have some unfinished b'isness with them, I wonder, d'you know where they might be dude?" Jou quizzed the handsome brunet in front of him. Akira paused to think for a minute before answering; "I don't know, last I heard they hung out in a warehouse on the quay but I haven't seen any of them in months, they might have moved. Sorry dude and good luck with the unfinished business, see ya round!" The blond walked away into the night, in the direction of the quay which was situated only a mile or two down the road, easy distance in Tokyo.

Jou found his gang hangin' in the warehouse he'd been directed to, they were sitting on plastic crates, drinking beers and doing something he'd never seen them do before; laughing! "Hey guys, what are you doing?" The entire group jumped at his presence, they obviously hadn't notice him skulk in through the door. This was when Jou knew that his old gang had definitely changed and broke out in a wide grin. His five old gang members broke out in grins and voiced their greetings before all rushing over to greet Jou with big hugs which completely surprised the blond. Ushio then motioned for Jou to sit down on a crate with them and handed him a cold beer, Jou obliged. "So why so happy guys? You just score big or something?" At this the entire group frowned. 'What have you done Jou, now you've put your foot right in it!' Ushio choke up, instead Violet had to answer for him; "Since we all got done for drug smuggling and Crystal got shot by the guy we were working for, well we decided to give it up and get clean, all of us together so we could get regular jobs and get our feet before we got too deep like most of our parents." Violet grinned widely at the blond as the rest of the group nodded sadly in the background. "Wow guys I never woulda' thought youd've done it, I only came back to see Crystal ta be honest, I thought it was about time I told her the truth, I guess I'm late huh?" Jou joked sadly. Violet walked over to Jou and gave him a huge hug; "Don't worry cutie, she knew you were gay and it wasn't anything to do with her why you left either, but she still loved you very much and wished you luck in your new life." Vi paused for a second and sniffed; "You know she loved you like no-one else could and she more than anyone else wished you to get clean and to get a decent, honest job." Jou started sobbing and hugged Vi before strolling off into the night, leaving the gang slightly subdued by Jou's visit.

Really sorry guys I haven't updated in absolutely ages, you have no idea how sorry I am, I haven't been able to write and it's been killing me! So I don't blame you for losing faith in me, I certainly would! I love you all lots please review and help me! xx


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